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Welcome! The ABCs of School Nutrition Program supports school nutrition programs by providing training, resources, and tailored technical assistance to Illinois school nutrition professionals.
On our blog, you'll find a variety success stories from schools around Illinois who have worked with us on Smarter Lunchroom initiatives, Breakfast After the Bell, and more! We also highlight School Nutrition Heroes who are committed to serving healthy meals and our winning Meal of the Month photo contest entries.
To navigate, feel free to scroll through the posts, or narrow it down by selecting relevant categories (displayed on the right side of the page). Have a question? Choose the "ASK A SCHOOL NUTRITION QUESTION" category to get to the pinned post.

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Food Service Lead shares feedback from Breakfast in the Classroom pilot

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Mrs. Pippen Stewart, Food Service Lead with Chartwells Dining Service, was a little wary when she heard that East St. Louis School District 189 would be participating in a Breakfast After the Bell pilot program:

"At first, I thought this [would be] an overload of work for me to do along with the work load I already have." But after the week-long trial at Annette Officer Elementary School, she said, "surprisingly, it wasn't that difficult."

It went over well with students, too. Mrs. Stewart explained, "On May 1st [after the pilot had ended], the kindergartners went to their classrooms and wanted to eat in their rooms... One kid said to me, 'what happened to our food? It wasn't in my room when I got there.' Another kid said, 'I didn't eat at home because I wanted to eat in my classroom with my friends.'" Teachers also enjoyed the program and said that kids were more focused, happy, and less disruptive in the classroom.

Mrs. Stewart was glad to have had the chance to pilot the program and troubleshoot issues that came up. She shared with us some suggestions for others to consider when implementing (or just trying out) Breakfast in the Classroom:

1. Menu is an important consideration. Instead of making yogurt parfait cups, send in yogurt cups with granola or yogurt tubes. Hot sandwiches should come pre-made so that food service workers only need to heat them up. Assorted pre-packaged breakfast pastries are a good option, too, as they are very popular with students. For the fruit component, fruit cups and applesauce work well.

2. Paperwork should be streamlined with a bar-coded roster for each teacher. Each cooler and hot/cold bag should be counted per food item and recorded, to keep track of what students take.

3. Food service programs should account for increased labor time, as items for each class will need to be counted and organized into coolers and hot/cold bags.

4. Time each day's menu to see how long prep takes, and get feedback from teachers and students on the meal.

5. Make sure everyone is on board with the program, from the superintendent down to the principals, teachers, food service staff, and parents!

In the end, "[teachers] were quite pleased at how it didn't affect their lesson plan[s] and students who are usually late still had the opportunity to receive a breakfast, even after 9:30 am," Stewart said.

Thank you, Mrs. Stewart, for taking the time to share your thoughts, and for being a School Nutrition Hero!

If your school needs help implementing Breakfast After the Bell, get in touch with us at schoolnutrition@illinois.edu to get connected with your local ABCs of School Nutrition staff!